Pokémon University
by dennix
Summary: Welcome to Pokémon University, the most prestigious and popular university among college-age students from around the world, Kanto to Kalos. Follow the story of Damon Gray, a first-year student who has much to learn about the world of Pokémon, and his friends and rivals as they all experience the ups and downs of college life.
1. Acceptance Letter

Mr. Gray

It is with great honor that I announce that you have been officially admitted to Pokémon University's Fall semester. There is a small number of guidelines each new student is required to know before entering the university.

Each student may only be accompanied by a single Pokémon. This Pokémon must either be in its "baby" form or in its egg form.

The Pokémon a student brings will categorize that student as a specialist in the primary type of his or her Pokémon.

Each student shall be assigned a private dorm room in a tower according to the student's level of skill demonstrated in the Sorting Battle.

The left wings of each tower are reserved for male students. The right wings of each tower are reserved for female students. The center wings of each tower are reserved for University Staff and students of a nonbinary gender identity.

Students are allowed to spend time in the rooms of other students of different genders. Please refer to the _University Dorm Life Handbook_ for more information and rules regarding this.

Although battling and training one's Pokémon is an important part of attending the University, students must be aware that any and all Pokémon battles must take place only within the University Battling Center during the hours the center is open. Special exceptions are made for required in-class battling sessions.

Now that you have been given these rules, the University holds no accountability for any student who disobeys the University rules. We thank you for your choice to attend Pokémon University and we hope that you have a successful Fall semester.

Dean of Students,

Edward Gainsboro


	2. Chapter 1: An Azure Aquaintance

Damon Gray sat on the seat of the train alone as he looked out the window. Nothing seemed too particularly out of place, but Damon just liked to watch the trees as the train rushed past them. He'd never been on a train before, but the train itself wasn't too exciting. All Damon could remember was that it had a blue body and a painting of a Pikachu's head on it. He'd wondered why people used a Pikachu as the mascot for everything when there were so many other good Pokémon in the world. Damon looked down at his lap as his own Pokéball as he wondered why more people didn't like the simplistic attraction towards his Pokémon.

The train car's door opened and out popped a tall young man with an almost nervous look in his eyes. Damon saw a single Pokéball attached to the belt around the guy's pants, so Damon assumed that this man was also a student on his way to Pokémon University. The nervous man had short, dark blue hair that Damon could only assume was dyed, with eyes to match. He wore a solid white dress shirt with a cobalt blue bow tie. As the man looked around the car, Damon noticed that he looked so nervous because all of the seats were filled, except for the seat that Damon was sitting in. Almost feeling sorry for the guy, Damon motioned over to the empty space next to him. The man walked over and took a seat next to Damon, looking somewhat relieved.

"Uh, thank you." The man said, not making eye contact with Damon, but rather looking down at the floor.

"Oh, it's no problem." Damon responded. "I didn't think you'd want to stand up there the rest of the trip. We've still got a while to go."

"Yeah, I had to leave the front car because there were too many people." The man said. "I'm Thomas, by the way. What's your name?"

"My name's Damon." He replied. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Castellia City, over in Unova." Thomas said. "I'd probably say that you're from Hoenn?" Damon was shocked by this.

"How did you know?" Damon asked.

"Well, I noticed your green bandana and thought that it looked similar to May's. You know, the Hoenn champion? I figured you may have worn it because of that."

"I guess you aren't too wrong." Damon said. "I am from Hoenn. It's a little city called Fortree. There isn't much around, but there's plenty of wild Pokémon not too far from the city."

"That's always a good thing, I think." Thomas said. The two were silent for a while until finally a voice came over the intercom.

"Arriving at the Pokémon University Train Station in five minutes. Passengers please gather your belongings and prepare to exit the train. Thank you for choosing Devon."

As Damon collected his luggage, a single suitcase filled with all of the clothes he had, he looked over to Thomas.

"Hey Thomas," He said. "What specialty are you?"

"You mean like what type of Pokémon did I bring?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah, that."

"Well, I'd rather you just wait until the Sorting Battles to see which type I'll use."

"You really want me to wait that long?" Damon asked.

"It won't be too long. My last name starts with an 'A'. Plus, I'd expect a friend to be watching my first battle in college." Thomas replied with a smile.

"You think I'm your friend?" Damon asked.

"Do you mean that you don't want to be my friend?" Thomas asked, his mood changing from happy to almost destroyed.

"No, that isn't it at all!" Damon said, trying to reassure Thomas that he wasn't trying to be negative. "I just, you know, had never been called a friend by someone I'd only met an hour ago."

"Well, I guess I'll see you in the Sorting Battle, friend." Thomas said with a returned smile as he gathered his things and exited the train.


	3. Chapter 2: Registration Restivity

As Damon exited the train, he and Thomas were ushered into a line of other people he'd assumed to be students. He didn't like the close quarters he was crammed into, but when he looked up at Thomas, he'd realized that Thomas liked it even less than he did. He'd noticed that Thomas was about two or three inches taller than him, but he tried to make himself smaller and more compact so that he wouldn't have to be touched by so many people at once.

"Hey Thomas, are you alright?" Damon asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm just fine." Thomas responded rather weakly. "It's just, I don't do too well around people. I don't like people touching me."

"Yeah, neither do I." said Damon. "This line looks like it'll clear up fast though, so I wouldn't worry too much."

After a half hour of standing in line, Damon's feet started to ache. He had already taken to pulling his luggage around through the line, but even that had started to be too taxing for him. The only good thing Damon had noticed so far was that the weather was decent. Not so hot that he was sweating, but not too cold that he was freezing.

It didn't take much longer for the two of them to enter the Battle Center, which was conveniently close to the train station. At the entrance to the building, the two noticed that there were student helpers wearing t-shirts that said "Luggage Collector" in bright letters. The two walked over to see what was happening.

"We're here to pick up your luggage." said a tall girl with short black hair. "After your Sorting Battle, your luggage will be taken to the room that you are assigned. This helps you so that you don't have to carry around your bags all day, and it helps us so that we can screen your bags just to be sure there aren't any illegal substances within them." Although the two were reluctant, they each gave up their bags.

There were signs everywhere in the building navigating the various first-year students to their destinations. Sooner or later, Damon and Thomas came across a series of signs organizing each student by their last names. One sign signaled for students with last names starting with "A-G," which the both of them followed. After a short walk through one of the hallways, the two were greeted by a long row of tables, each with a different letter displayed at the front, indicating a student's last initial.

"I guess this is goodbye until after the matches." Thomas said. "It was great talking to you. We should meet up afterwards!" With that, he walked over to the A table.

Damon had waved back and started to walk to his table when had met a solid object with an audible smack. He fell to the floor, and so did the thing, or rather person, he collided with.

"Would you watch where you're going?" An angry high-pitched voice spoke. Damon looked to see a girl who had to be about a year younger than him. He noticed that the girl had long light blue hair, in contrast to Thomas's short deep blue, and her grey eyes were just barely visible behind her thick wire-frame glasses.

"I'm so sorry." Damon spat out. It was all he could manage. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay." The girl said. "You didn't think that you hurt me, did you? I'm a bit tougher than that." As she lifted herself up, she reached for her belt.

"Wait a minute!" She said, almost shouting.

"Where's my Pokéball?" She asked. "It was around my belt just a second ago!" She immediately glared at Damon.

"You!" She almost shouted. "You're some kind of thief, aren't you? You get a kick out of stealing a helpless girl's Pokémon? Huh?" With each question, she jammed her finger into Damon's chest.

"Oww oww, hey, watch it." Damon complained as he stood up. I don't know what happened to your Pokémon. I think we're both at fault for the falling, but I'm not a thief." He said as he grabbed his own Pokéball from his belt to show her.

"See? This is the only one I have. It's the only Pokémon I've got." The girl swiped the Pokéball from Damon's hand and held it up, studying it.

"Hey, give it back!" Now it was Damon's turn to shout. "I just said that that was mine!"

"I was just making sure." The girl said. "My Pokéball has a seal on it, right on the top." She tossed Damon's Pokéball back at him.

"Look, I'm sorry you lost your Pokémon but-"

"I didn't lose anything!" The girl shouted. People were starting to look over at the two of them. "You're the one that bumped into me!"

"Is there a problem?" A friendly feminine voice approached them. Damon and the girl looked at the woman standing next to them, who looked to be a helper with the day's events. The girl with the light blue hair spoke first.

"Yes, my name is Alyssa Cyan and my Pokémon is missing!" She stomped her foot to add more emphasis to her problem.

"Uh, miss?" The woman said. "You wouldn't happen to mean the Pokéball that's in the bag you're carrying, would you?"

Alyssa looked into her open bag and pulled out the first item she touched. Lo and behold, it was her Pokéball, with a sticker seal at the very top, just as she'd described.

"Oh, well look at that…" she said, embarrassed. "I guess I must have forgotten where I put it last. I almost always put it around my belt, so I guess… uh…" she looked over at Damon. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I guess." Damon said, holding out his arm. "My name's Damon." The girl took his hand apologetically.

"My name is Alyssa. I guess I can be a bit forgetful at times." The woman next to them laughed a bit.

"Well, as long as this situation is taken care of, I should be on my way." With that, the woman walked off.

"Oh man!" Damon said. "I still haven't registered for the Sorting Battle!" He hastily shook Alyssa's hand and ran toward the G table, yelling "see ya later!"

Damon made it to the G table just in time. He was the last person in line, or rather the only person in line.

"Hi, my name is Damon Gray." He said, a bit out of breath. The man at the table shuffled through some papers before he found a single name on an index card.

"Gray-comma-Damon?" the man asked.

"Yes." Damon replied.

"Alright, sign here with your companion Pokémon and your type specialization and you're good to go." Damon did so, and was ushered into the Battle Arena Building.

The doors to the Battle Arena Building, or as Damon had heard some call it, the B-A Building, opened up to a large lobby, which branched off into six different paths, each one Damon assumed to lead into another battling arena. At the top of each pathway, there was a large engraving of the name of the pathway, and by extension the name of the battle arena. There were six arenas, one for each of the regions of the world. There was also a set of LCD screens next to each pathway showing who was currently battling at that arena. None of the screens Damon saw displayed Thomas, and Damon had hoped that he didn't miss his match. He calmed down when he looked over at one of the benches along the wall of the lobby.

"Thomas!" Damon shouted, loud enough so that he hoped his friend would hear. Thomas was reading a rather thick book, which Damon was unsure of how it had gotten past the Luggage Check, but he raised his head and scanned the room until he found Damon, then waved Damon over to the empty seat next to him, much like Damon had done for him not three or four hours ago. Damon walked over and sat right next to his new friend.

"Hey, Thomas, what's up?" He asked.

"Not much, I was just enjoying a bit of light reading before my match." Damon looked at the cover of the book, which read _Beginner's Guide to Pokémon Care for the Caring Pokémon_. The design of the cover made it seem like a textbook. It was a light pink color and had a picture of a Chansey on the cover.

"You call that 'light reading'?" Damon asked. "I'd consider light reading to be like a pamphlet or something, not really a textbook."

"It's for one of my beginner's classes. I figured if I started reading now, I wouldn't be too far behind if I start to struggle in the class."

"Well if you keep reading like that, I doubt you'll struggle with much." A voice came up on the intercom.

"Can I please have Trinity Amber and Thomas Azure make their way to the Unova Arena? Trinity Amber and Thomas Azure to the Unova Arena. Thank you."

Thomas raised himself from his seat.

"Well, looks like it's my turn to be sorted. I'm a bit nervous."

"Hey, don't be." Damon said. "At least your battle is one of the first ones, so it's done and over with. Most of the people aren't even here yet, so it won't be that bad."

"Thanks Damon. Maybe I'll see you up in the stands."

"Nah, you've gotta focus on the match, Thomas." Damon said. The two of them laughed as they followed the crowd into the Unova Arena.


End file.
